


Slow Water

by nakedhelot



Category: Naruto
Genre: Freeform, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-04
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2020-01-04 17:17:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18348164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nakedhelot/pseuds/nakedhelot
Summary: Kakashi, Sakura and Sai wait for Naruto to comeback. Sasuke writes letters he can't see. Konoha carries on.





	Slow Water

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, you might notice that the structure of this is slightly different. It's inspired by Jose Saramago's non-use of speech marks - which I thought was interesting in terms of flow. It might be jarring at the start, but I hope you stick with me... it makes sense (I think... lol).

The last mission Tsunade delegates as the Godaime of the Hidden Leaf is a B-rank reconnaissance, to ensure that the re-drawing of the borders respect the land as it was before the Great War. Naruto picks it up, eats lunch with the Rookie nine, dinner with Sakura and Kakashi and Sai, sleeps, departs at dawn. His clone arrives eight weeks later, a week overtime, gives his report and goes up in smoke. Tsunade shoves the robes and the hat onto Kakashi and ignores his protests, squeezing both of Sakura's shoulders hard. Shizune is already in civilian wear and they are beyond the city walls just as soon as Kakashi finds the sake stash in a sealed scroll in Tsunade's desk. He pours Sakura a cup.

That night, Sakura hovers her hands above the blue and black smudges flanking her neck. She doesn't heal them. She doesn't know how long they take to fade, but by the time the council has run out of excuses to take Kakashi out of his seat, the same time that Kakashi runs out of excuses to leave it, bringing a cushion from his apartment and reading Jiraiya's books instead of doing his paperwork, they're gone. Shikamaru suggests a follow-up on Naruto's last mission and Sakura doesn't miss a beat in taking it. Kakashi levels her a look and she thinks of the hospital wards, emptying day by day and her bureaucratic responsibilities and how she doesn't have any, how all she has to do is scold Kakashi and teach Sai when to keep his mouth shut and he tells her to go.

The mission lasts five weeks this time since they have no reason to doubt Sand or Lightning and Kakashi repeats, with another look, five weeks. Her final stop is in the Land of Rain and of course it's raining and she has five days to return to Hidden Leaf or forever.

The citizens of Rain wear goggles and oiled coats and their buildings are tall and grey. There are no trees, but everything is covered in a vibrant moss that bears no flowers. The sound of the drains rushing beneath the streets follow as a constant white noise. There are no parks, no park benches, so she stands in the political district, hair limp under her heavy hood. She returns a couple of days late with a written report that is equivalent to the distance of a morning jog. Her reflection on the window of the Kage office is older, washed grey and half transparent. Kakashi pours her a cup and she notices it's warm. She finds that the path to her villa is covered in sleet and the village in the frigid glow of melting snow and she turns on her heels and walks to her parent's house. Naruto left in the summer.

Kakashi escapes paperwork by doing it for the first few months of his term in the only way he knows how, badly. Hinata's divine patience can only take so much before all forms, applications, orders and reports go no further than the 'in' pile of Hinata's desk. In the first year of Kakashi's term, the only official Kage business he handles on his own is the funeral of Homura Mitokado. After the solemn affair Ibiki steps up to fill the gap in the Hidden Leaf's council of elders.

Kakashi congratulates Ibiki for more than 30 years of active duty and after a few drinks Ibiki confesses how he never thought he would live this long. Kakashi goes home and finishes re-reading the last of Jiraiya's books. His vision goes blurry staring at the spine of 'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja'. The following morning a correspondence labelled 'Ibiki - Council Briefing' meets him on his desk, the contents of the folder holding nothing but clear, lined paper. Hinata walks in, sharply greets him a good morning, coffee on the right hand corner of his desk, pen straight in his hand. She expects it on her 'out' pile by tomorrow morning and walks out. He looks at the document, spins the pen in his hand, looks out the window, spins the pen in his hand.

He dictates in his head 'The Council before the Great War, consisting of Shimura Danzo, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado was'. He looks down on what he's written, shakes his head, and tears the first leaf from the pad. He peels off the robes, mounts the Hat on a nail in the wall and Hinata can only glare at his back. She retrieves the untouched mug and closes the folder, lining it up square to the edge of the desk and placing the pen beside it. Then she reads the few words on the torn sheet underneath. She commits the page to memory, how it sits in context to the rest of the desk, the slight creases on its surface and the shadows they set, the ink blots where the ball of the pen caught, the words, and she leaves it as it is. 'A child defeats a god and now it's springtime.'

Shikamaru is smoking at the memorial when Kakashi appears beside him. He asks if Ibiki has given Shikamaru the day off and he replies that nothing can be done until they receive the report that Kakashi abandoned a few minutes ago. The names on the stone have only grown since the last time Kakashi could afford to visit, a long time before the Great War began and even longer after it had ended and he sees _Shikaku Nara_ engraved deep and amongst other Nara names. Shikamaru disappears with an exhale and Kakashi looks at _Obito Uchiha_ , feeling the bevels of where the stone had been cut into, crisp and unsullied, and he knows someone had cut into it recently. Further down lies the name of _Itachi Uchiha_. It is, it will be, the last Uchiha name on the stone. He finishes the report early and Hinata thanks him quietly when she walks into his office bidding him a good night. When he goes home, he puts the loose sheet of paper, less than a line written on it and wedges it between the last page of 'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja' and the back-cover. He stares at the ceiling before getting up and sharpening his weapons inventory which had done nothing but collect dust. When he finishes, he renews the traps in his house and goes to training field 27. He comes back to Sakura cooking breakfast, still in her night-shift scrubs. He greets her a good morning and she turns around, with a frenzied look in her eyes and the wooden spatula shaking in her left hand. Kakashi checks to make sure there isn't any coffee brewing. She opens her mouth to speak, holds her air, then tells him to take a shower the way she used to tell him he was late. He looks at her for a bit before following her orders. When he comes back into the kitchen, noting he has an hour before Hinata starts getting the shits with him, there is a breakfast spread across his kitchen counter enough to feed an ANBU team of ten.

He wonders how much of his groceries she had helped herself to. He wonders how long she's been waiting for him. She has her hands on her hips, oil splatter on her scrubs and tell him to, well, eat. They're both pretty hungry after a night at the hospital and a night lamenting at how rusty he's gotten and it's not until they both spar for the last rasher of bacon, eyes drilling into each other, that Sakura cracks, drops the fork and dives into her satchel. Kakashi takes the bacon and shoves it in his mouth anyway. He looks at the blank envelope in her hand, postcard sized, no name, no address, no chakra signature, most-likely hand delivered and swallows. She had arrived home to see it leaning against, next to that photo of team seven. The one Kakashi took out of its frame in his foyer, on his bedside table, then with him at all times. The one thing missing from Naruto's apartment - still unsold, aside from his mission clothes and equipment. The one Sakura had taken from Sasuke's apartment and made copies of because her's had been so worn and creased and discoloured, had tears at the corners.

There were no signs of entry, or exit or anyone ever having been in her apartment but he and Sakura turn quiet as she confesses that she doesn't know who it's from, that she won't open it alone. Kakashi tells her to go home, take a shower and change since he needs to tell Hinata he's going to take the day off anyway and she deflates before picking her satchel up, arranging to meet at 1200 and leaving the letter in Kakashi's hands. He arrives at the tower just in time to give Hinata the day off and before she can protest he tells her, honestly, about the situation. Kakashi is not usually prone to these theatrics, but he feels himself getting old, watches himself writing, just writing away, and looks at the lines increasing on his hands. Hinata tells him that she expects the full report tomorrow. Kakashi thinks about making a quick trip to the memorial, decides against it since Hinata has apparently beat him to it and besides there was no such thing as a quick trip to the memorial.

Kakashi opens the door to Sakura in civilian clothing and she invites him out for lunch. Two hours later talking about the hospital and the academy and the borders, they wordlessly arrive at Ichiraku Ramen. Old Man Ichiraku looks surprised to see them, looks between them, as if counting and gives them an old smile before beginning to make their regular orders. Sai arrives without his ANBU mask just before Kakashi’s bowl of ramen is finished, always late and always last, Ayame intones, before continuing with her prep. She takes up so much space in the small stall, pregnant as she is, and Sakura can't help but dissolve into maternal gossiping. Sai's inputs are only inappropriate half the time and Kakashi commends him on his progress. When the bowls are cleared and the afternoon beers are ordered, Kakashi takes out the envelope from his breast-pocket. Sai examines it quickly and whistles at the fine work that went into its anonymity. Sakura takes it from Kakashi's hands, as it was personally delivered to her, and treats it with clinical detachment. Her hands are surgeon steady when she opens it to a blank card with a commercial postage seal on it. All the air leave their bodies and the tension falls away in an anti climax. Sakura swears under her breath that whoever sent this would be meeting the business end of her fist. Sai laughs while asking what that's supposed to mean and Kakashi takes a large gulp of beer. Sakura makes a few seals and reaches into the card and she pulls out a scroll as thick as her palm, patched up, taped and stapled together. She wastes no time unrolling it, taking up the whole stall space, to the first three metres. Sakura chokes back a sob. It's Sasuke's writing.

The thing is, Sasuke is dead in the city records, on the Uchiha family scrolls, dead on the reports of all the lands that have a folder for his name in their filing cabinets, deceased in the bingo books, his bounty unclaimed. And they can't know when this was from. Sakura keeps looking at it blandly and does not react when Sai begins to roll it up again. It sits on the bench, even as another customer takes the seat to Sakura's right and orders a beef ramen. Sai asks whether he should take it to diagnostics for analysis or. Sakura insists on taking it home. They smile stiffly at each other, Sakura heading to the residential district and Sai accompanying Kakashi to the tower. They brief each other on ANBU business and Sai disappears. Hinata is at her desk when Kakashi decides to leave and it's fully dark. He tells her it wasn't from Naruto and slowly, thinly, she smiles back.

He goes to sleep feeling like he's done nothing for the whole day, feeling exhausted. A week passes by without incident, then a month, then he is due to receive the quarterly report from the hospital and the Medic Association. Sakura fills him in on everything relevant and highlights the pressing points, and Hinata scribes down the details worth keeping on the agenda. When his appointments are done, he meets Sakura at a bar near the Jounin standby point. Sai is away on a long mission. I read it at least four times, she confesses, then I kept going back to the bits that would just stay in my head and. And Hatake. She looks at him and she's twelve again, she's twelve again but he's still, he's already on the fatal side of thirty going on sixty. Hatake, I can't tell if he's still dead. She slides the envelope to his side of the table, tells him to work hard on getting her that budget, because the oncology ward is falling apart and the hospital isn't just for the armed forces, do you hear me Kakashi and the research grant for the Seal-Chakra relationship would really help with chakra exhaustion study, do not forget! And she hugs him goodnight and gently closes her door. Kakashi feels her eyes following him from her top left window, as he walks down the street, people still milling about because they called it an early night.

Hatake goes to a bar, coincidentally Genma is there and they make a night of it, and he reminisces on when he was able to chat up a lady, take her to bed, and call it a clean break the next morning, but apparently Kage's can't really do that. Hanabi laughs at him, and he is caught by the realisation that she's old enough to even be here and she advises him to talk to her sister about it with a sly smile. When the bars finally close and they have no choice but to get some shut eye, Hanabi winks at him, There's always a way, _Rokudaime-sama_ and he makes a big, highlighted note in his head to ask Hinata exactly what her sister is on, what her sister is on about as soon as he can. When he goes to work, Hinata gives him a grim look and he discovers that it's Hidden Leaf's turn to host the Chuunin exams next year and wow he really does not want to fuck that up. He asks Hinata to ask Shikamaru out to lunch, and they're in a nice restaurant overlooking the mountain and his face looks as out of place as ever. Hinata gets to work on schooling him on How-To-Have-Relationships-Without-Important-People-Knowing 101 and Shikamaru interjects with some valid points as a clan brat as well. He then shoves the responsibility of organising the Chuunin exams almost completely to Shikamaru and the glare he receives could move oceans. That night, he pulls on a disguise, goes to a nice bar, talks with a nice girl and takes her to bed. It's a nice clean break in the morning. He goes to work, unrolls Sasuke's letter and begins to read.

-

Hey, Itachi. Brother, where are you now, is all I really think about lately. I don't do a lot of talking, or writing, but I think all the time. Lately however, I don't know if I can trust my own thoughts, if I can trust myself to remember my own thoughts, or my own memories, properly. So I'm writing them. If I could change anything in the world, I would only change one thing, not much, cos I fuck things up enough, too badly, but this one thing, I wish for it everyday ever since. I wish I could have stayed with you. It doesn't matter how we would stand up to the rest of everything else, or what we would do, or all the ways we wouldn't get along. I wish I would have stayed with you. I'm writing that now before I can deny it, lie to myself or forget it. I wish i could have stayed with you i wish i could have stayed with you i wish i could have stayed with you i wish i could have

-

I'm in Rain Village and Jiraiya died here. A little bird told me that, recently they retrieved his body two kilometres into the water, sinking slowly. This felt important to write. I don't know why. I saw someone I knew today looking lost but all this rain can do that to you. Make you think more than usual. My thoughts weigh so much here, like they're getting heavier with the water in the air and that sounds stupid but that's me. I feel heavier.

-

Sometimes I wake up, and I hear the birds being real fucking loud, and it smells like the morning. I'm in the Land of Rice Fields but I smell bread baking every day, and i wonder if you would have found that funny. Anyway, sometimes I wake up and it takes a long time. Such a long time, before the black sleep clears from my eyes. I've stopped hyperventilating about it. But i want to remember how i felt the first time it happened. I was scared. So scared. then I imagined that. Felt that too. everyday before. My lungs would. See even now I cant be honest with myself. Who is this even for.

Who am I even writing to.

I'm writing but its not making things clearer for me and one day I won't even be able to read this. I'm going to wake up one day, and it will take longer than an hour for the black to clear. Then it will take longer than a day. I'm trying. I'm trying. So this is what happened. I cried. A lot. I was hoping the tears would, and this is all scientific ok, none of that sentimental shit, I was thinking that the tears would clear whatever was fucking up my eyes so I could see again. I cried until I was dehydrated . Then I rubbed at my eyes until I could feel the grain on the surface of my eyeballs, could feel the dust that would stick to it. And even then the black didnt go away. And all this time I'm clutching at my chest. It's hard to breathe. I know how big my room is but I couldn't see it and it felt like all the space I had , all the air I had, was within the boundaries of my own skin. I felt claustrophobic and out of air and I couldn't get my shit together. I tried to find something to hang on to until I could open my space again. I'm writing it so I dont forget, I'm carving it into this paper so i can still feel it out. I've fought gods. I've fought gods.

I kept saying that to myself until I could walk around and feel that there was ground to my left, right, front, and back. Until air swept past me as opposed to just through me. Slowly I became able to see again. My palms were bleeding from my fingers when I kept. That’s where this blood is from. Not from my eyes. Not. I'm just. It's good that no one saw.

-

The fields move real calmly here in the land of rice fields. I might stay awhile brother. There's sun here, and wind, and there's no good reason to keep moving on just yet. The work is hard. I've cut my hair. You'll laugh. It's all gone.

-

The guy I work for has a song he hums. I asked him for the words today, because I don't want to forget this place. The rice fields are gold- The sun is strong, forgiving- A good yield, that's all. I'm going to start heading to Cloud Village tomorrow because I can see myself growing old in this place.  And that's such a huge lie that it must be time to keep going.

-

That's another thing you'll probably find funny. Me going to the clouds. I've been noticing things you would think of as humor, only now. I'm being honest when I say I don't know why.

-

I want to find Whirlpool village. I'm not honest or strong enough to confess why. I'll keep that with me until I can stop being a coward.

-

I have dreams where we fight when we’re both at our peak. We just keep fighting each other and getting better. I want to fight you again.

-

It hurts, that you couldn’t see me in your final. That you couldn’t see how strong I’d become. That’s a selfish thought, but even then, at the height of how much I. Hated.  I still wanted you to see how far I’d come, how fucking tall I got. Damn.

I wanted to be worth your death.

-

Wait, Sai begins, they're cross legged under a heated table drinking warm wine and eating tangerines, so is he writing to. Kakashi and Sakura glance at each other before Kakashi mutters, very good Sai. Sakura sighs, We don't know, why can't boys just be clear about what they're feeling, and about that Naruto hasn't even bothered to let us know how he's doing. Sai admits that ANBU has no further intel nor have they picked up any sign of Naruto Uzumaki. Sakura looks at Sai for a long time before stretching. Well, I was going to bury this in the Uchiha shrine, but now I don't even know who it's for. I think what's more important is, that Uchiha went bald, Sai says with a straight face. Kakashi hits him upside the head before Sakura can do any worse damage. He looks at her, now I think, what's more important is, that this is as much for you, Sakura, as it is for Naruto or Itachi, don't forget that. She massages the junction between her neck and left shoulder and looks into her wine. Sai suddenly bolts up, Did you follow up on Jiraiya's body, Kakashi. I wrote a letter to Tsunade as soon as I read that part, she's got it under control. And what about the Chuunin exams. Shikamaru's dealing with that somehow. So what exactly are you doing as the Kage, Kakashi. Delegating. Sakura chokes a laugh at him and Sai gives him a genuine smile and they usher in the new year in their sweats.

As soon as the holidays are over and the briefing with the reconstruction committee is finished, Sai skulks into Kakashi's office as if he didn't know why he was summoned there for. Kakashi asks him for all the information he has regarding the whereabouts of Naruto.  Sai says he has none. Kakashi asks him to try again, this time without lying to his commanding officer's face. Sai asks why it was acceptable to lie to Sakura's face, Kakashi just barks, tell me what you know. On a mission in the Sand, a little after Sakura received Sasuke's letter, he felt some of Naruto's chakra signature, faint, weeks old, in the Kazekage's office. When he skirted the issue with Gaara, he was shut down immediately. But it's weird, it's like Gaara was trying to protect the memory of his presence there, as if he was trying to preserve the chakra signature. Why didn't you want to tell Sakura. My one lead is a cold, dead end, I don't want her going out there for nothing. You know she wouldn't. Not for Sasuke, but she's chased Naruto before. You don't think we should be chasing him, Sai? I think Naruto is one of the few people I've met who truly knows what he wants, and I respect that. Kakashi thinks of the Jiraiya's book in his shelf at home, of the scroll he's let Sakura keep. I want you to tell Sakura what you know about Naruto. Let her decide how she wants to respect Naruto's wishes. Sai hooks his mask back on and in a low voice, muffled by the mask, do you think Sasuke found Uzushiogakure. Yes, send Shikamaru in on your way out.

Shikamaru obtains approval for the final details of the Chuunin exams, including the proctor selection which includes Hinata and asks about any developments on Lady Tsunade. She's having diplomatic issues with the Rain. Shikamaru lifts the cigarette behind his ear and shakes his head on his way out. A month or so later he's examining the Chuunin applicants for Hidden leaf and Sakura drops by with the medic-on-standby report, Naruto would have been with this lot, she says without much inflection and Kakashi hums absently before placing a bet on how long Lee's team can hold out. Kakashi finds out that Gaara is willing to discuss everything but Naruto, his attempts are met with a big wall and a small smile and a segue into trade agreements and a potential train line. Sakura wins the bet. After Sai finishes pointing out potential ANBU recruits amongst the recent Hidden Leaf Chuunin graduates, including all of Lee's team, Sakura hedges another bet. Kakashi makes a mention of her becoming a gambling woman and from there she raises that Naruto will be home within a week of Lady Tsunade's return. Sai starts speculating on whether or not Tsunade will return with Jiraiya's body and it's one of the few moments that Kakashi can hear all the bitterness in Sakura's laugh. Sai, that's like asking if I would leave Naruto's body for the sharks. Sai then bets that Naruto won't come back without Sasuke. After the Chuunin files are put away and the sake cups washed, Kakashi dreams of bells.

It's not until Kakashi and Hinata are going over the final syntax of the fourth Leaf-Sand trade alliance that an ANBU operative with a turtle mask informs them that Lady Tsunade has just barged past quarantine. Kakashi leaves Hinata to finalise the words and respond to the Sand communications and meets her at the Jounin Medical facilities, deep underground. Sakura is waiting for him. On the other end of numerous doors and seals, Tsunade is in a white coat and Jiraiya's corpse, impossibly grey lays on the examining slab. Kakashi is thankful that sometime between now and Tsunade's time at the Rain, any swelling seems to have disappeared. Tsunade briefs them on how much diplomatic troubleshooting they'll have to work out with Rain since she, according to Rain terms, stole the body. Of course, that's bullshit considering it wasn't theirs to begin with. As Shizune feeds the scrolling seals moving around the operating table, Sakura works diagnostic chakra through the skin, then the bones of the body. Tsunade is analyses the chakra pathways and she lists the possible extent of Rain's meddling with the body for the medical technician to record. Kakashi is already attempting to shuffle all the current factors in his head into a formula that doesn't equate to political disaster. Hours later, Tsunade finds him in a small medic break room, trading insults with Shikamaru whilst they try to draft as scathing a correspondence as possible to Rain, without creating any further conflict. They didn't discover anything about sage mode, so we're good to wait for their move, before we start ruffling any feathers on this side. She takes a seat and drinks straight from the sake bottle, looking at the stamp and confirming that it's from her stash. Well actually, it's just the same brand as what you prefer. Shikamaru hands her the scroll as he lights up his third cigarette for the hour and grins as she laughs at the sheer balls of it.

Tsunade lets Sakura take over Jiraiya's examinations a few days later and asks for Kakashi to write her when funeral preparations are through. Sakura walks her to the gates complaining how she's picking up the worst habits from the Godaime. When Shizune looks her up and down, You don't look like an alcoholic, Sakura just smiles dishonestly. I bet that Naruto would be back a week within your arrival. Tsunade pulls her into a vice-like one armed hug. Sakura clings. The correspondence to Rain becomes somewhat of an inside joke and when Kakashi pulls it out during poker night with Genma, Raidou and the rest of that Jounin crew, they pour twenty active years of duty onto the page.

The filth that is written as a result is so beautiful that when he, Sakura, Shikamaru, Sai and Hinata are gathered around the Kage desk in a rare display of schedules matching, as soon as the Sand-Lead trade alliance is given his final stamp of approval and rolled away, he pulls out the Sake scroll and the defiled diplomatic exchange. They break out in hysterics and contribute their own jabs along the page and Kakashi says that this will be the first thing I'll show to Naruto when he gets back. The group sobers for a little before Hinata asks when exactly he thinks that's going to be. Sakura pulls her lips away from the sake cup and snidely comments that he might as well make a bet of it. Kakashi honestly likes his odds against Sai so he clears his throat and makes it official. Naruto will come back when I no longer feel like being the Kage. Sakura snorts, that is just like you, Hatake, to place such a cop out bet. Shikamaru coughs on his smoke, what, you think he'll be here tomorrow. Hinata winds down her uncharacteristic cackling and Kakashi suspects being his second has finally gotten to her psyche.

Sai wins by default, Hinata announces, because if Kakashi's bet held any weight, Naruto would never have left. Kakashi figures that all great Leaf ninjas left for some kind of sojourn. Jiraiya did, Itachi did, Tsunade is still on hers and Minato died too early. Sasuke did. And Naruto did. He imagines Jiraiya's body being slowly prepped for a hero's burial, how he would take all those books and that one picture and his stolen eye and follow the words that Jiraiya wrote across the continent, to see the women he's seen and drink the wine he's gotten drunk on, how one day his world will narrow to nothing but aimlessly doing that and how that day will be the day the Naruto returns, still sixteen in his head and still light.

Shikamaru mutters how a war with Rain is very much a possibility if they ever caught wind of the scroll that Sai is doodling petty obscenities on. Later that month, Kakashi's meeting with Ibiki, Iruka and the one and only Koharu Utatane, who Kakashi suspects of being part goddess, is interrupted by a note from a med-tech. Only after the council-meeting is adjourned does he open the summons to the high mortuary, and Kakashi finds it funny that at some point during the history of the Hidden Leaf, there was an administration who allocated time and resources to ensure that there was a distinction between the morgue for plebeian operatives and for people deemed important. He wonders if he should bother dissolving it. When he arrives, he sees Jiraiya as if he's sleeping. Healthy color, fingers and joints all in normal proportion. Skin as imperfect as it was when he was alive. Everything down to the last sunspot was accurate. He looks at the med-tech in awe and she clarifies that it was all Sakura's work. He approves the release form. Over a cold soba and a pale ale at Ichiraku's, Sakura mumbles that Tsunade had written her step-by-step instructions, Kakashi asks her to write Tsunade, Jiraiya's funeral will be held in a week. It will be a public affair. Sakura nods before grilling Kakashi on his progress in introducing a pre-field medic course to the Academy curriculum.

This is the second funeral Kakashi's attended in as many years of being the Kage. It's a day that requires a light jacket due to partial cloud coverage and cool winds, and he's only breaking the smallest sweat under all the official gear. After the crowds have dispersed, and the stragglers finished with their private moments with the dead, does Kakashi return in nothing but his Jounin wear. Not many ninja are privileged with their own grave, but he supposes Jiraiya would have been far happier if he were still alive. A stranger he vaguely recalls as one of the last people to throw a kunai into the grave approaches him, shimmering only slightly before turning into Tsunade. Just as Kakashi was about to leave, she asks if he wants to go for a drink. She laughs at his hesitation. Come on, even old lady Koharu is coming. In a quieter voice, she adds, I've had to haul his bloated ass all the way from Rain, I think I've had enough one-on-one time with the loser. They arrive at the typical Jounin hang-out, although their table, consisting of perhaps the oldest, toughest ladies Kakashi has had the pleasure of arguing with, are given a wide berth. Sakura joins a little later, bringing out the official Rain-can-shove-it scroll and showing Tsunade the amendments made. Koharu barks with laughter before proceeding to school them in her infinite wisdom on how to really insult a rival village.

Kakashi wakes up on a Day of Mourning with a killer hangover because Tsunade could drink, yes, but Koharu was a force unto herself. As he brushes his teeth, Kakashi resolves to reduce his alcohol intake lest he end up living longer than necessary. He has two hours alone at the memorial before he notices a few more people arriving with flowers and families, and Sakura hovering in the periphery of his vision. When she comes closer he notices how tired she is. Someone's been in Naruto's apartment. Kakashi's throat dries up. Kakashi feels Sakura steel herself, spreading out her chakra to cover her like armour, as if she's going into battle. Naruto is standing in front of Jiraiya's grave. Sakura approaches him slowly, before slowly wrapping her hand around his elbow. Kakashi doesn't dare move, looking at them side by side, wondering how he hadn't noticed Sakura turn into a woman because next to Naruto, who is no longer a child playing an adults game, who has an adults weight of regrets tempering the set of his shoulders, Kakashi starts wondering when, if, Sakura will start her own family. He wonders if he's aged just as much. Sakura and Naruto turn to face each other slowly, slowly cataloguing everything that's changed between them, and slowly Sakura curls her arms around Naruto's neck, slowly Naruto curls his arms around Sakura's waist and they bury into the nook of each other's shoulders and they inhale so deeply Kakashi can feel the ground beneath him drawn by it. They don't exhale for a very long time.

When they finally separate, ready to become two autonomous beings, Naruto hugs Kakashi quick and tight and Kakashi clamps down on him, just as quickly. Naruto is still a little shorter than him, and Kakashi ruffles his hair before he can think of restraining himself. Naruto keeps his head down. I'll be back, Jiraiya. His voice is deep and kind, and they go to Ichiraku. The Old Man bursts into tears as soon as he sees Naruto. Old Man Ichiraku washes his hands clean of garlic and takes Naruto's cheeks in his hand squeezes. You've grown, my boy you've grown so much. You've grown so well. He jumps on the phone for two seconds and a few minutes later Ayame arrives at the stall, breathing hard from exertion, with a bundle in her hands. Naruto's breath audibly stalls. Naruto, Ayame starts, welcome home. Naruto is strangely hesitant to take the baby in his hands, but Ayame insists. When he does so, his movements are so floaty Kakashi is convinced that Naruto is convinced he's on another plane. His name is Chikaru, but we call him Chashu, Ayame smiles. Naruto gives a stilted, awed laugh, half of which seems lodged in his throat, and breathes, Hi.

Sakura cradles the baby like she's used to it and Kakashi avoids him like a plague, as usual, whilst Ayame hugs Naruto, you're really, she starts, before smiling wider, right, get seated, and get ready for the best bowl of ramen you'll ever have. She steps behind the counter. Ichiraku murmurs something about closing the stall for a private function and Kakashi agrees, that sounds about right. Lee comes around first, and it's one of the few times Kakashi hasn't seen him with at least one of his Chuunin team, and Ayame hums happily as she pegs a handwritten 'Closed for a private function' sign between the 'Ra' and the 'Ku' on the line. Ten Ten shows up with Kiba, Chouji and Shikamaru, who arrives only to light one cigarette after another and shake his head at random intervals. Hinata arrives with tears in her eyes and all reservations forgotten as she hugs the life out of Naruto, who is only on his third bowl of ramen due to all the interruptions. Kakashi looks at what's left of the Rookie Nine, all of them at last Jounin rank, all of them showing signs of wear and tear and he looks at his hands, counts the lines, thankful that there are no liver spots just yet. Sai arrives as the third round of drinks are being bought, rips his mask off, examines Naruto as thoroughly as Naruto is examining him, and the smile that unravels on his face is so radiant, so genuine, that tears start to form in Sakura's eyes. Kakashi commends her for holding off for so long. They hug like long lost brothers and Kakashi wonders if there's something else forcing Sakura's tears. After some of the most amusing few hours of Kakashi's life, Shikamaru takes a kind of silent divine cue and suggest the Rookie Nine all meet up for barbeque in a couple of days for a proper catch up. They slowly, always with tangents and interruption of laughter and anecdotes that come randomly but vividly, put away the crates and boxes they've commissioned around the stall's street space.

The see-you-laters are as slow and humorous as the greetings were slow and dramatic. Team Seven helps Old Man Ichiraku and Ayame shut the store and they sit on the counter, facing away from the shutters, looking onto the quiet street of Hidden Leaf. Sakura talks about her time as a pre-eminent medic, Sai as a commanding officer of an ANBU squad and Kakashi on how he would really like to stop being the Kage soon, and there is an unspoken pact to let Naruto talk about his time away at his own pace. Sakura gingerly broaches the subject of Naruto's quiet. I've just missed you guys so much. She punches him hard in the shoulder. They talk until Iruka walks past the stall, shell-shocked. Sakura hugs Naruto goodnight, Kakashi pats him firmly on the back and Sai gives him a fist bump. Kakashi looks back to see Iruka embracing Naruto, resting his head on the blonde hair, his eyes closed tight, hearing Naruto exclaim Iruka, you have grey hairs now, and goes home.

On his way to the memorial, Kakashi finds Naruto and Tsunade in front of Jiraiya's grave. A week later Sakura and Naruto gives Tsunade a proper farewell, at a bar and then at the city gates. After that, Kakashi finds Naruto sitting in front of Jiraiya's grave every morning.


End file.
